Illicit Love

Walking into the small little boutique on the Upper West side of Manhattan, Gabriella only had one thing on her mind: her next competition. This particular competition, being only a month away, would decide whether or not she was good enough to get into the U.S. Championship Tournament. Gabriella knew that she had enough heart and dedication to do it - her whole family has always been able to do whatever they set their mind to - she just needed to prove it to the judges, whom were a little more difficult to persuade.

"Gabriella, my beautiful Bella!" the boutique owner, Joe, sang, his Italian accent thicker than ever. She smiled at the old, stout man, and then proceeded to give him two kisses: one on each cheek.

"Good morning Joe! How is your wife doing?" she asked, remembering that when she came by last time, about two weeks ago, she had the flu.

"She is doing much better! Healthy and strong as a bull now." She chuckled at his sayings, truly happy that she was doing better.

Joe was Gabriella's leotard designer and producer. He was an essential part of her team, for no figure skater wins without a gorgeous leo. She spent a lot of time with Joe, who occasionally even invited her over for Sunday gravy. His family had become a part of her own family here in New York, so hearing that his wife was now better made her day even brighter than it already was.

"That's fantastic to hear! I was told that my new leo was in so I was wondering if I could get the alterations done now."

"Of course you can Bella! It is in the back room. I will go grab it right now." She thanked Joe as he escaped into the little room behind the cash register. He returned a few moments later, with a hanger in his hand, encased by a black cover which prevented her from catching a quick glimpse of the leo. "Here you go! But Bella, trust me, the fit is perfect. You don't need any alterations on it, because Joe always gets it perfect the first time."

Running her hand through her hair, she smiled at the old man in front of her. "You're right Joe. You do always get it right the fit every time, no alterations needed. I'm just so worried. Everything needs to be perfect for this next competition." She paused for a minute, the endless tragic possible outcomes flashing through her mind. "It just has to be," she finally sighed.

Sensing her stress, Joe quickly ended the discussion, and ushered her out the door after she paid him. She was eternally grateful for his sensitivity, and thankful that he could serve as somewhat of a father figure in her life. Although her father was always in her life, neither of her parents were very supportive of Gabriella and her figure skating dreams. No, sometimes they wished she had never put on a pair of skates, never had a childhood dream. When it came to her brother, on the other hand, they did everything in their capability to be his biggest fans. They never missed one of his games, until he left home in hopes of becoming something bigger than their small town in Massachusetts could handle. It never seemed fair to her; it still doesn't. Her biggest fan was her brother, who always tried his hardest to be at every one of her competitions, though his schedule prevented that from even being a possibility.

If there's one good thing that came out her parents’ unsupportiveness, it was the bond it fostered between her and her brother. The two were best friends, despite the fact that he was four years older than her, but beyond that, he truly was the best brother ever, as gay as that may sound. He was always looking after her. Like a big, mama bear, she always used to say. He even beat up her first boyfriend after he broke her heart, regardless of her begging him not too.

She started to chuckle as she walked down the New York City streets, thinking it was slightly crazy that she was even here, in New York. Her whole life was spent in Massachusetts. Her everything was there: her friends, her coaches, her trainers, absolutely everything she ever thought she would need. That held true until her parents forced her to go to college, telling her there was no way in hell that she could make a career for herself out of figure skating. As much as she hated it, she knew they were right. An education was important; even her brother completed four years of college before moving on to the next step in his career. She had her heart set on going up north to Michigan, that being where all of the best figure skaters trained. She had it all planned out. But then one day Chris called her, practically begging her to come to New York.

"So Gab, have you applied to any schools yet?" Chris asked, yet she could tell this was not his intended motive of the phone conversation by the tone in his voice. He was hiding something, and she knew it. What it was, she couldn't say.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she let out a small sigh. This whole college process thing was stressing her out entirely too much. "Um yeah. I applied to a bunch of schools in Michigan last week. I won't hear back for another month or two, though."

"Alright I'm just going to cut to the chase here. I want you to apply to NYU. Actually, you don't even have an option. You are applying there, even if that means me filling out your application," he replied bluntly.

"Chris, first of all, that's illegal." She heard him snicker through the phone. "Second, that doesn't even make any sense. You know all the best coaches are in Michigan. If I want to amount to anything in the skating world I need to go there. Case closed."

"Well what if I told you that your current coach promised that he would come to New York with you?" he countered. She told him he was crazy, that her coach's life was in Mass. and that he couldn't just leave it, regardless of the fact that he didn't even have family here. "I already called him and he said he would."

"Alright Chris, what's really going on here?"

"The Rangers want me to play with them full time here. It's a big city, and the guys on the team are great, don't get me wrong, but I want to know a familiar face outside the rink."

She remembered that phone call like it was yesterday, it being one of the happiest days in her life. She was so proud of Chris, and she still is. Although she couldn't help but feel jealous when their parents threw their total support behind him and, yet again, asked her to quit her own pursuit to pursue a higher education.

Deciding whether to come to New York or go to Michigan, though, was the hardest choice she had to make in the eighteen years of her life thus far. Her coach promised he'd come with her to the city, but the other option meant Olympic coaches, ones that may push her hard than she thought possible. The deciding factor: Chris' way to seal the deal. He had promised her that New York would be full of glamour, fashion, and nightlife. All of those being things that Michigan did not offer. He even promised to buy Gabriella her favorite Michael Kors bag that she had been eying for months (and he actually kept his promise, too).

Glancing at her phone, she realized that she needed to be heading back over to Chris' apartment. He had to head out to the Rangers' practice facility soon, and had been able to find away to allow Gabriella to use the ice for practice for two hours immediately before every one of his practices. It was a saving grace, because there weren't many other facilities around where she could practice, and they let her use the gym, too.

However, today there had been a conflict. Well not so much a conflict as a change. AV really just wanted to bump his practice up an hour, which just meant that Gabriella would take the ice after practice. And even if it was a problem, she was in no place to complain. Free ice time was free ice time.

Rounding the corner towards the familiar apartment building, Gabriella pulled out her phone, calling her brother to let him know that he should leave now if he wanted to meet her on the corner.

"God Gab! Coming to New York did not involve you becoming a prostitute," Chris joked, pulling up in his black Range Rover.

"Chris, I'm an escort not a prostitute. It's much classier. And that whole incest thing gives me the heebie-jeebies," she countered, pulling her delicate frame into the big SUV.

"Well thank God, because if you weren't, you'd be way lower than my standards." He winked at his kid sister, their playful attitude toward each other clearly evident.

"Don't kid yourself bud. I'd be the best thing you'd never have."

"I rubbed off on you way too much kiddo," he replied, shaking his head. It was true though, growing up with an older, hockey playing brother made her quick-witted from a young age. "So what do you plan on doing while waiting for your ice time?"

"I'll probably just do land practice. I had cardio two days ago and Coach Erik had me do five miles on the treadmill, followed by ten on the bike, so I'm still feeling it a little bit. And tomorrow is leg day so I'm supposed to take it light today." She grimaced at the thought of leg day, knowing she would barely be able to walk the day afterwards.

"Why do you have to do so much cardio? I mean, I know you do the long and short freestyle program, but it's no more than like, seven minutes. It can't be that much mileage."

Gabriella rolled her eyes at her ignorant sibling, although he couldn't see as a result of being so focused on the busy streets. "Correct, but twirling and hurling yourself in the air takes a lot of effort. The more you do it, the more points you rack up, especially if you do them in the second half of the skate. It takes more endurance than you would think." Chris shrugged his shoulders at the response, and filled the air with useless conversation for the duration of the drive.

Before long, the two were heading their separate ways: Chris toward the ice with the rest of the team and Gabriella towards the long hallway with the padded black floor. After quickly changing into a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra, she quickly tightened the laces of her sneakers and stretched out. Putting her ice music on repeat, she tossed her phone against the wall, far enough away where she wouldn't step on it, but close enough where she would hear it throughout the expanse of the hall.

Just three steps into her footwork sequence, Gabrielle entered what she likes to call "Ice Mode," her secret little escape. When she's skating, or even just training, she loses everything around her, only sensing the music running through every vein in her body. One time she had her headphones in at the park, practicing her routine, when a rather large crowd gathered around her. It took her five minutes to notice.

Being too into her routine, she didn't notice the foreign blonde sneak into the end of the hallway to watch her performance at some point during what must have been her tenth time through the routine. Originally just coming this way to track down the source of the music, he couldn't peel his eyes away from her petite frame, her swaying hips and flexibility on full display for him to watch. He could tell she didn't notice him, and decided to use that to his advantage to have a little fun in the midst of his injury. "I'm not saying I'm complaining, but who are you and what are you doing here?"

Gabriella let out a deafening screech, falling to the floor in a panic attack. The blonde could only laugh at her, taking four long strides over towards her before helping her back up to her feet.

"What the - fuck - was that - for?" she asked in between her gasps for breath. She was bent over, forearms resting on her toned legs, allowing the blonde to see the little peak of cleavage that a sports bra allowed a man to see.

"A man goes to desperate measures to keep himself entertained while he's on the IR," he said coolly, resting his back against the wall. Gabriella sighed, seeing that as a sign that he may not be leaving any time soon. Despite being in Ice Mode, she decided to entertain the rather handsome man in front of her.

"That doesn't happen to be a left hand injury, does it?" She crossed her arms across her chest, shifting all of her body weight onto her left leg.

He snapped his head back in laughter at her response. "You're good, mystery girl. Care to tell me who you are?"

"Nope, I like being unknown. It gives me the upper hand." She sauntered towards him, eying him up and down: tall, muscular, blonde, and foreign. Just how she liked them. Deciding to be bold, she reached up on her tip toes and whispered in his ear. "And I like being on top." She made sure to swing her hips just a tad more than normal, knowing full well the he would be staring. Smirk on her face, she marched straight into the locker room, proud of her bold remark.

"Jesus Christ Gab! You can't just burst into here like that! We could have been naked," Chris scolded, running over to cover his baby sister's eyes.

Placing her tiny hands around his wrists, she pried his hands away from her face, doing a quick survey of the room. She hadn't realized the time, and didn't think that the boys would be done with practice yet. "Relax Chris. Everyone has pants on, and it's a damn shame, too." This elicited a chuckle from a couple of the guys, mostly the single ones, although everyone had been staring at her.

Chris sighed and rubbed his temples. "This is why I haven't had you meet any of the guys yet."

"Wait, you mean to say you've been hiding this gem of a woman from all of us, Kreids? Man, you must have it bad for her," John Moore chimed in, making his way over to the two, making damn sure he checked out of every inch of those long, muscular legs.

Chris' hands clenched into fists at the sight of his teammate checking out his sister. "She's my sister you fucking dipshit," he spat, letting his protective instinct get the best of him.

Seeing the anger in his eyes, Gabriella knew she needed to act fast, before he did something he would regret. "Okay mama bear, you need to relax. You have been putting me in lockdown mode for the two and a half months I've been here. They were bound to meet me eventually. You can't keep me under lock and key forever."

Chris knew everything she was saying was true. He wasn't an idiot; he saw how guys stared at her like a piece of meat when she walked down the street. And he also knew how the guys on the team treated girls. He knew how they treated girls because it was the same way he treated them, and he couldn't bear to hear his sister become locker room talk. So, he did everything he could, for as long as he could, to keep her away from them, knowing full well that all the single guys would try to get their hands on her.

"Look, I was just coming in to grab my skates." She slowly backed towards Chris' locker, where she had stowed her things for the time being, keeping her hands in sight so as to show no devious intent. "I'm just going to grab them and go."

Chris waited until Gabriella was out of earshot before addressing the guys that were usually his wingmen. "You guys better fucking listen to me," he said with contempt, pointing a harsh finger at his teammates. "That girl has goals, and she has to stay focused in order to achieve them. If any of you lay so much as a finger on her, I will cut your dick off. And that especially goes for you Hagelin!" (who had walked in at some point during his tantrum) knowing full well that Carl was exactly his sister's type.

But Carl Hagelin was always one to prefer breaking the rules.